So you do what you always do when it's just you and Windows, alone: You
lie. To yourself. "Maybe, just maybe this time it really will be
different," you say, blocking out the one thousand previous proofs to
the contrary. "What the hell. It's not like I have much choice." You
close your eyes. You give in.

[Brian]
Yikes! I remember that shirt! I thought you'd lost a bet. And of course,
that's the lasting image, because it was the last time I was in town for
one of those (before we moved East).

Also, that image strays rather far from the "root kit" subject line.
After all, you weren't particularly difficult to detect in that garb.
Quarantining ... ah, that's another matter entirely.

[Rick]
Inevitably, there's a story.

Deirdre and I were in Honolulu for the first and only Westercon (US
western region science-fiction convention) ever to be held in Hawaii,
and we heard that there was to be a tacky-shirt competition.

We made a beeline for Hilo Hattie's factory-outlet store
(http://www.hilohattie.com/), makers of fine aloha shirts and other
island gear. Nothing quite seemed right, until, just before we reached
the exit, in the remainder room, in the furthest corner... The Shirt!
It hung there, quietly pulsating.

It didn't take the grand prize: There was serious competition.
However, it was one of the winners.

[RealAudio] First of two NPR commentaries on "net neutrality", the
issue of whether telcos should be able to charge their own partners
less for Internet bandwidth than competing content providers. This
one is the telcom's industry side and argues that activists want a new
law to "artificially" subsidize rates for certain providers (naming
Microsoft and [Yahoo or Google]). The commentary argues that the
current "hands off" approach to Internet regulation is better. The
next piece will be an opposing viewpoint from Craig of Craigslist.

[Ben]
Micr0s0ft has annoyed millions of people with their system messages, but
now they went just that little bit too far - they annoyed a poet. I
guess they'd never heard of "Meddle thou not in the affairs of poets,
for thou art vulnerable and your name rhymes with nasty things"...

----- Forwarded message from Abraham Thomas <thomas@> -----
Guest poem submitted by William Grey, <wgrey@>:
"Windows is Shutting Down"
Windows is shutting down, and grammar are
On their last leg. So what am we to do?
A letter of complaint go just so far,
Proving the only one in step are you.
Better, perhaps, to simply let it goes.
A sentence have to be screwed pretty bad
Before they gets to where you doesnt knows
The meaning what it must of meant to had.
The meteor have hit. Extinction spread,
But evolution do not stop for that.
A mutant languages rise from the dead
And all them rules is suddenly old hat.
Too bad for we, us what has had so long
The best seat from the only game in town.
But there it am, and whom can say its wrong?
Those are the break. Windows is shutting down.
-- Clive James
----- End forwarded message -----

"The second day of the workshop began with the discovery that the bulb
in the projector had burned out, which was fine with us as it further
discouraged the use of mind-numbing slideware. We attributed part of
the amazing productivity of the workshop to the lack of a projector
and the fact that most of us also lacked any form of network
connectivity from the conference room, forcing us to pay attention to
what was going on instead of reading our email."

[Ben]
I'm happy to say that in all my years of teaching, I've managed to avoid
using the projector 99% of the time. I also carefully maintain my
hard-to-read style of board-scribbling, thus forcing the students to
concentrate on what I'm saying. :))) I can't do anything about the Net
access from the classrooms - for that matter, I wouldn't change it if I
could - but, as I see it, gadgets usually detract more than they add to
a teaching environment.

In the welding class that Kat and I recently completed, she kept
complaining that she had problems understanding the instructor's
Missourah accent - and yet, she graduated with an 'A' and some excellent
welding skills. Seems like a (highly effective) ploy to me. :)